Modular UV unwrapping and texturing curved areas
Weeell, this isn't my place of expertise, but it'd suggest minding where you place your seams.

and yes, Separating the mesh into bits is also not entirely out of the question

From the looks of things you need to find some way to move the texture about. I suggest finding Darrin Lyle's UV mapping Tutorials on YouTube, they're invaluable for stuff like this. it looks cool too, lemme know when you've gotten around this.